


crying in an ihop bathrooom

by moth_them



Series: remembering?????? [2]
Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Deaf Joshua Freeman, IHOP, M/M, Other, Previously dead character, They/Themrey, missing memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:33:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27938102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moth_them/pseuds/moth_them
Summary: The little trio go to ihop for dinner.reading they used to be friends on my page will give a little bit of context :]
Relationships: Benrey & Gordon Freeman, Benrey/Gordon Freeman
Series: remembering?????? [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2056239
Comments: 2
Kudos: 37





	crying in an ihop bathrooom

**Author's Note:**

> tw for a sorta overstimulation thing? benrey freaks out bc of the feeling of wet hair on their hat. it's projecting onto benrey hours.

Benrey sits closest to the wall in their booth, opposite of Gordon and Joshua. They fumble with the damp hair sticking out of their hat, watching Joshua try to convince Gordon to let him get pancakes instead of something actually dinner-adjacent. The feeling of the wet hair on the wool of their hat is starting to freak them out, and its making a knot of discomfort tie itself into a mess in their stomach. ( _Where their stomach should be, technically_ )  
"Benrey?"  
They looked up from Joshua's t-shirt (it's Toy Story. The kid likes it a lot). "huh?"  
"What do you want?"  
"oh, uh." Benrey looked down at their menu and really wanted to choose something funny, to make Joshua or Gordon laugh. But they barely felt like they could talk. "just... uh, water. that's it."  
Gordon stared at Benrey for a couple seconds to long before nodding and leaning back in the cushiony seat. "Close your menu, so the waitress knows your done." Benrey flips it closed and slides it to the end of the table before going back to tugging at the hair on their neck. They grit their teeth and resists the want to pull at it.  
They think they did that a lot when they were a kid. They remember someone yelling at them to stop, smacking their hands gently when they did. But then comforting them, trying to figure out what's freaking them out.  
"Benrey, are you okay?"  
"huh, yeah, uh." Benrey slipped out of the booth, clenching and unclenching their hands. "brb." And they half run away to the bathroom, ducking into the room and into a stall with a shaky breath that threatens a sob. They rip off their hat and fuck with their hair, swiping their hand over and over and over and over, water droplets dusting along their arm. They barely noticed the hot tears streaking down their face.  
They find themselves slipping into a memory while they messed with their hair in hopes of getting it to feel less damp.  
It's that woman again, and she's holding Benrey close to her chest, rubbing their back with a gentle hand, being careful to not freak them out more. Her other hand is holding that hat.  
_"It's alright, Ben, you're okay, I shouldn't have let you lay down yet. Your hair's just wet, that's all."_ She hummed, unclenching their fists and letting them grab onto the hat. "Your hair's just wet."  
_Hair's just wet_. They take a deep breath and sit up, shoving their hat into their hoodie pocket and ducking out of the bathroom. Their face is splotchy with red (Gordon convinced them to try and mask their ~alienness~ and they figured it out! >:)) and their eyes are still wet. Benrey grumbles and wipe at their face with a huff.  
"Ben, are you okay?" Benrey jumped and looked up, Gordon standing just inside the door to the bathroom. He frowned. "What's the matter?"  
"uh. my uh hair was freaking me out."  
"Freaking you out?"  
"like, the dampness on my hat. was uhhhhhhhhhhhh not poggers. pog'nt, if you will."  
"Oh, okay..." Gordon frowned. "Are you okay now? You've been checked out for, like, 20 minutes, dude."  
"uh, yeah. sorry."  
"Don't apologize, dude. Are you good to go sit back down?" Benrey nodded and Gordon nudged the door back open, gesturing for Benrey to leave first. They do, picking at the hem of his hoodie. Gordon follows after, coming to walk beside them. Their shoulders are brushing now and Benrey can't help but remember _that_. Their memory. They push it down and they come back to Joshua in the booth, doodling on the back of the kids menu.  
"what're you uhhhhhh drawing?" Benrey asked, sliding back to their little corner of the booth, leaning on the table.  
"You!" Joshua looked up with a grin. Benrey flinched, staring at the paper. And it was. It was messy and miscolored but it was Benrey, hat and all.  
"ohh, dude, that's so fffffffreaking cool, man."  
"Aaaand." Joshua shuffled through his assortment of primary colors before choosing the green and quickly doodling a second person. It wasn't until he added thick glasses that it registered that he was drawing Gordon beside Benrey. "Dad!" Joshua leaned away from the drawing with a grin.  
"It looks awesome, Joshie." Gordon grinned, kissing him on the head. Joshua laughed, swatting at Gordon.  
"yeah, uhhh, can i lookit?" Joshua slides the drawing across the table and Benrey picked it up, listening to Joshua protest at his dad's attempts at affection. Benrey blew at the paper, watching small pieces of crayon fall like multicolored snow. They smile a bit at the shakey drawings.  
"your gonna be the next Da Vinci, man, this is-" Benrey gave a dramatic chef's kiss. "excellent." Joshua laughed, reaching across the table, making grabby hands at the drawing. Benrey hands it back and leans into the cushion, watching Joshua doodle more things all over his menu.  
A waitress walks up with Joshua's and Gordon's food. They expect her to leave after placing down two plates, but a third is slid over to him. It's a short stack of waffles.  
"wuh, i did-"  
"I got it for you. You haven't eaten in the, what, week you've been here." Gordon explained as the waitress walked away.  
"what? a week? i've been awake for like two days."  
"You popped up on my couch like a week ago. All glimmery and hole-y."  
"ssssshoot, really? yikes, that's uhhhh, pretty cringe of me. my bad." Benrey tears out a small chunk of their waffle, shoving it into their mouth. "can't believe i showed up un reformed in front of my best bud."  
Gordon rolled his eyes with a smile, turning to Joshua and helping him cut apart his smiling pancake. Benrey lapses into silence, watching Gordon and Joshua again. Gordon looks less tired now. There's a scar through his left eyebrow, and he's wearing different glasses than when they were in Black Mesa, they think. He smiles a lot more. His braces never quite got rid of his gap. Joshua got it, too. They should bully Gordon about it later, to get rid of the heavy feeling in their chest that's making them feel sick. Good plan.


End file.
